Because I Can Make You Smile
by StarryEyedLight
Summary: Vanille has convinced the group to head back to the beautiful waterscape she and Sazh adventured down near the beginning of their journey. One member of the group isn't pleased with the idea, nor the girl's attempts to make her smile…
1. Secrets

_In light of Closer being completed, I bring what might become a much lighter, fluffier fic. I need a break from the apparent sadness that circled around my last fic. But you never know, it might turn out to be like the last._

_EVENTUALLY I'll branch out, or maybe I'll stay in FF-land, who knows? Mwahaha, enjoy._

_Beta-ing done by SinisterPurr!_

**Because I Can Make You Smile**

**Secrets**

_I'm not exactly sure why she decided to drag us back to the waterscape; it wasn't high on our to-do list as we ran around trying to save (or destroy) Cocoon. The entire time she was chiming away that it was worth the trip. _

_I didn't believe her._

_

* * *

_

"How come you never smile?"

Lightning blinked, finding herself completely caught off guard by the sudden outburst from the ginger-haired girl. She was smiling as the sergeant turned back, leaning over ever so slightly with a glimmer in her eyes. Lightning found herself frowning, hand on her hip as she considered her reply.

"I smile."

"When?"

"When it's necessary."

Now that didn't fall under any of Vanille's suitable replies. To that she furrowed her brow in confusion and tilted her head. "When its necessary?"

"Yes."

"But smiles _aren't_ necessary."

Apparently, Lightning's point was avoiding her. "Exactly."

"Well, that's no fun."

With an irritated sigh, the sergeant turned from her contemplating companion and continued down the road. They had arrived at the docks a while ago, and though the others had pressed ahead, Vanille had insisted that both of them stay behind and enjoy the scenery.

_What scenery? It's barren here and there's water. Not exactly worth noting._

Of course, now they were moving but they were walking at a pace that was beyond slow. They hadn't gotten very far between Vanille's completely random questions and when she insisted on stopping (and she insisted _a lot)_. Stopping to view the most random and pointless of things, which was really beginning to grate on the soldier's patience.

"Vanille..."

"Hm?" She caught up with a skip.

"Why do you inspect every single rock like it's fascinating?"

"Because they are!"

Lightning wondered why on Cocoon she had expected a logical, sound answer from the one person in the world who was incapable of such a thought pattern. Honestly, she would like to believe she learned her lesson from every other time she questioned Vanille on something. The only redeeming feature of the woman is she had an astounding amount of energy; she could go on for hours walking, while the rest of the crew just complained about something.

_Optimism. Great._

Lightning hated optimists. Snow was one such example of those blind people who cannot see the world and life for what it was. It was hard and cruel. It didn't forgive and most certainly did not forget ones transgression against it. For example, there were numerous soldiers back in the Guardian Corps that raved about cheating death. They would go on about how they were invincible and drink until they could drink no more..

One died of alcohol poisoning.

Another, hit by a motorist. Oh, that was rich, the man had said how a behemoth trampled him and he survived, but a lone, low flying hoverbike hits him and off with his head!

_Literally._

The third had gone home with two women. Two women, who, in their provocative nature, had driven the slightly aged soldier to have a heart attack. Not that they were sad, instead they had stolen anything they could and made a run for Palumpolem. Lightning had caught them, and it was revealed they had hoped they could sell the items and get rich as the stolen property was lost in all the vendors.

Good plan, but using a dead man's credit chip, kind of left an easy trail to follow.

There were various other tales of how optimists had met such unfortunate ends. Lightning found solace in them, though she still wondered why a particularly tall, annoying optimist hadn't died yet. Admittedly, he was far less annoying than she had originally assumed, but having to save the world often inspires such thoughts.

So, having to put up with another one was irritating. The only happy-go-lucky person the sergeant had ever been able to bear for more then an hour without some sort of break was Serah.

_Well, she's dead now. _

That thought stung, though Lightning hid the feeling behind her slightly irritated scowl. Vanille had now taken to skipping merrily along ahead. Though not that far, Lightning had learned quickly that the red-head was much like a small child, she needed constant attention and shouldn't be allowed to run off ahead. If she let such things happen then in someway, Vanille would let out a shriek and hurt herself.

So as Lightning once again was drawn out of her thoughts, she froze in her spot. Eyes scanning the cliff side like area.

Where was Vanille?

"LIGHTNING!"

_Damn it..._

The soldier burst into a sprint and came spiraling around the corner to see what happened.

_Nothing_, other than now Vanille was giggly and ignoring the death glare she was receiving from her caretaker.

"Vanille..."

"You should've seen your face!"

"Next time you scream, I'm not going to run."

"Aww," the girl pouted, crossing her arms. "Why are you so angry all the time? Fang would've laughed."

"That's _fantastic_," Lightning countered coldly. "I'm not Fang."

"Were you worried about me?" The girl was so inquisitive; she was almost like a kitten.

_Oh I'm going to regret this answer. _"Yes."

"You care about me!"

And now Lightning was being embraced in a hug.

_Dear god in heaven..._

Her face twitched and she tensed, she had only hugged Hope. That was because she could relate to the boy, the girl now clinging so happily too her was as far as you could get from Lightning. The sergeant gritted her teeth, almost feeling a vein pop as she tried to get over what Vanille had just done.

That spatial boundary that everyone had... Hers had just been crossed. Not even Snow dared to break it this bad.

"Vanille..."

"Hm?"

"Let. Go."

"OH!" She backed away, giggling nervously. "Sorry."

* * *

Time passed quickly after that as they kept pushing ahead. The conversation kept to a minimum thanks to Lightning's shining personality. She was too busy thinking about how to save Cocoon and escape their fate, whether or not Fang and Vanille woke up was entirely besides the point. An eternal sleep wasn't something she found tempting, especially because she was quite prone to nightmares.

Vanille was humming, bouncing along with a smile on her face. She was careful not to get too far ahead from her friend, wanting to be able to point out anything she found interesting.

_If she points at another rock, I'll shoot it. I swear to whatever fal'Cie is listening-_

"Fang!"

Lightning was brought out of her daze by the sudden appearance of the tribeswoman, who was closely followed by Hope. The boy greeted Vanille happily, before he smiled at Lightning and waved a tad. His eyes seemed to light up as the sergeant nodded to him.

"Where are Snow and Sazh?" She questioned, scanning the area.

"Eh, back at camp." Fang replied. "They decided that the camp needed a man's touch."

"Oh..." Lightning frowned.

"It's as bad as you imagined."

_Wonderful. _

"We were waiting for you," Hope threw in. "Hoping you might, um... Get the camp back for us?"

"You can't get it back yourselves?" Her eyes flicked challenging to Fang.

"I _could_... But you enjoy bursting their bubble."

"Snow's cooking isn't he?"

Fang's expression turned desperate. "Dear Maker, it's horrible. Please, stop him."

"It smells like the chocobo farm..." Hope commented, his face turning to that of disgust.

Vanille looked a little confused. "His cooking isn't that bad…"

"Vanille, you've never ate what he's made." Fang began to lead the way. "I've always made you something. Decided to spare you the horror."

"Oh!"

* * *

Lightning's quick pace made her take the lead from Fang, arms crossed as she strode past them all. Vanille couldn't help watch, admiring the woman in secret. She was like Fang in a way, very strong-willed and a leader, but something was different about her as well. Fang was much more optimistic, she wasn't so down on life and anti-social. The girl found herself wondering how many friends their leader ever head.

_There's Serah... She didn't like Snow until recently... Probably some people from the army?_

She never talked about any of that. Though it shouldn't have, it concerned Vanille. She had been there for nearly everyone when they had been down, but Lightning. The woman had never shown that she needed help; she had always been strong for all of them.

Leaders don't cry, she supposed as her eyes left Lightning and went to the sky above them.

_Does she cry when we're not looking?_

Soldiers don't cry either; people seemed to tell her this a lot. Vanille frowned; she had never understood either rule.

_Why not?_

"Something wrong?" Hope questioned, nudging Vanille. She had fallen a little behind.

"Huh?" Vanille looked around, confused. "Oh, no! Just thinking!"

"Right..." The boy smirked. "Thought I could smell wood burning."

"Hey!"

And then Hope was off, running past both Fang and Lightning as Vanille chased after him.

* * *

"So?"

Lightning gave Fang a half-curious glance. "What?"

"What did Vanille want you to stick around to see back there?"

The sergeant let out a long, irritated sigh before she kept moving. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Fang blinked, catching up. "She just wanted to dilly-dally?"

"Yes." Lightning's tone was deadly. "She stopped to comment on _every _insignificant rock she saw."

The tribeswoman laughed. "Maybe they're significant to her?"

Lightning didn't dignify that response with a reply of her own. She let out another annoyed sigh before she walked a bit faster. Already her nostrils were flaring, both from frustration and a strange, almost alien scent on the wind. There was no doubt about what it was, not in her mind anyway.

_Fal'Cie help me, what has that moron made now?_

_

* * *

_

"I don't see why no one wanted to even try it…" Snow murmured, leaning back against one of the fallen logs. "It wasn't that bad."

Lightning kept silent as the rest of the group bickered. Once she had arrived, she had promptly put both men in their place and allowed Fang to rescue what was left of the meal. They were on the border between the barren coast and the forest, so their camp was quite neatly placed off the trail, just in case any PSICOM soldiers decided to patrol this particular speck of nowhere.

_We don't have time for this. _Lightning grumbled inside her head, gently beginning to clean her weapon. _Our lifelines are literally ticking down, and per request we're here, doing absolutely nothing._

She was a soldier first and foremost, and soldiers didn't waver from the plan. Vanille had managed to convince the entire group that going back to the waterscape was a good idea. She had blabbered on about being a nice break from the norm and how spirits would be enlightened.

This was a joke in Lightning's mind. Enlightenment wouldn't be reached from neglecting duty.

"Hey, Light!"

Speak of the devil, Vanille plopped herself next to her pink-haired friend. Lightning didn't look up from her gun, her face that of a calm and collected soldier. Showing how annoyed she was would only make the girl try harder at whatever she was doing.

"How are you?"

Not even a glance in the girl's direction. "Fine."

"You're really quiet."

She didn't like pointless conversation. For obvious reasons.

"Hm."

"Are you angry?"

Lightning glanced at Vanille, who seemed generally interested in the woman's emotions. Her eyes went back to her Blaze Edge soon after however, as she flicked the switch and began to clean the blade.

"No."

"Really?"

"_Really_."

"Snow said you only clean your weapon when you're angry." The girl seemed to believe the idiot's word over hers.

_I'm always cleaning my weapon…_

…

"Well, he's wrong." Lightning grumbled, ignoring Snow's subtle insult to her mood.

"So, why don't you come and sit with us?"

Lightning looked up, the sky was turning dark and the temperature was beginning to drop. Not that the woman liked to admit it, but that fire everyone was huddled around was far more tempting than contemplating out of the warmth's reach. Her eyes caught Vanille's for a second, and in that instant the girl knew she had won. She beamed, but managed to keep her smile cute and small before bouncing up and hurrying over to the others.

Hope scooted over as Lightning came up beside him; she plucked down next to him. Continuing to clean her blade, but not before she shot a glare at Snow. The man shrugged, a smirk on his face as he went back to listening to Sazh's tale of shopping in Palompolem with a hyper child.

"You've finally decided to join us?" Fang barked, catching everyone's attention.

All eyes were on Lightning for the briefest of moments.

"It would seem so." She countered; narrowing her eyes a smidge.

"Hey, you probably got a whole bunch of stories." Sazh gestured to the woman. "Funny ones too, from being a soldier."

The sergeant was stone-faced and silent.

"He means share." Snow chuckled. "All of us have given one."

"No." The woman went back to cleaning her blade.

"Come on, Light," Hope nudged her gently, catching a slightly taken back expression in the woman's eyes. "You've got to have some."

_Now Hope's betraying me for this lot? Urgh._

"I…" She floundered for words, hoping to hide it behind a mask of graceful hindrance. "No."

"She has one." Fang smirked, "She's just nervous."

_You witch…_

"What's there to be nervous about?" Vanille cocked her head to one side before looking back at Lightning.

Her eyes were softer than Fang's, a light green that seemed to sparkle with as much life as the girl could contain. There was also a sign of hidden intelligence, like the girl only wanted to play the happy-go-lucky one.

_You know more than you're letting on... _

"Please, Lightning?" She pouted, and Lightning could do nothing but sigh.

"Tch…" She clicked her tongue, looking at the fire as she thought. "Fine, but just one."

Vanille smiled, leaning forward excitedly. For the briefest of seconds, Lightning felt something change. She was apprehensive about talking to the group, that they might judge her on what she found amusing (though some would argue she was incapable of finding anything funny). But Vanille, she made that disappear.

To hell with what they all thought, the only person Lightning wanted to make laugh, was the girl staring at her so intently. The sergeant broke the gaze only to put her weapon away. She stared at her knees for a moment, mulling through the stories and experiences dancing in her head. She paused once she remembered one that involved a noble and a rather _**large**_ turtle.

_I'm never going to hear the end of it after this…_

"So," Lightning began, sitting up straight.


	2. Luck

_So sorry it's a little late. I got caught up with work and today was my birthday party (I'm 20! YAYYY) Also my beta had some computer trouble, so that hindered the updating a tad. I'm so glad I have a couple days off; I'm so frikkin tired it's ridiculous. _

_Anyways, thank you for the reviews. :3 Hope to see more! _

_SinisterPurr beta'd!_

**Because I Can Make You Smile**

**Luck**

"I cannot believe you've never been fishing."

Lightning shot a look over at Snow as Vanille lead them plus Hope down towards where the river was bustling and moving at a steady pace. The orge didn't seem that fazed by the look, only shrugging in return.

"Oh, come on, even Serah has gone fishing."

_I'm not Serah. _She growled, though the words never managed to escape her. Instead she just settled for an irritated look and her disapproving:

"Tch."

"It's easy." Hope added in, smiling weakly. "If I can do it, you shouldn't have a problem with it."

It's not that the woman thought she'd be challenged by the act, it's the fact she had no desire to learn. They were perfectly capable of catching various creatures out in this forest, so why had they opted for by far the most tedious and boring option? And if the three of them were so educated in the matter, why on Cocoon did she have to come?

Last night had at least been tolerable, she had told her story and was mildly satisfied. They had all laughed, which was something the sergeant would be secretly proud of. But now, she was forced to journey with, in all accounts, three children.

Lightning hated children.

"Why I am here?" She questioned, brow furrowed. Her hand rested on her hip as the other played with the handle of her gun.

"Because you need a laugh." Snow offered, rolling his eyes at the look he received.

"What's the harm in learning?" Vanille smiled innocently, as she picked out a spot on the riverbank.

"What's the point of learning?" The sour woman countered, receiving a huff from the girl.

"You can watch then." The boy officially conceded their defeat.

As boring as fishing was, watching somebody else fish was that much worse. Lightning had sat herself on a log, and for about an hour, watched the three of them chat and laugh between themselves. All the while she had noted how the makeshift bobbers Vanille had tied onto the cables of the binding rod would drop underwater occasionally.

_She has a fish. _Lightning dully noted, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. _I wonder how long it'll take her to notice._

A minute had passed by, and still the chirpy girl hadn't even glanced at it.

Such a lack of attention to subtle details was beginning to drive the woman mad. Their conversation was on chocobos for crying out loud, how in the world the girl couldn't manage a pointless conversation and a boring 'sport' was beyond Lightning.

_Serah would tell you to help out._

That was nice, her sister wasn't here. So that idea was out the window.

Not that the gesture could hurt, she had heard the explanation from Hope when he had futility attempted to drag her into the conversation. The bobbers go down, you yank on the rod, and you reel in. Bigger fish, bigger fight. Simple enough, and not at all stimulating to the mind.

Two more minutes, now it had grated on her patience.

"Vanille…" She finally spoke, grabbing the girl's attention with her low voice.

"Hm?" She leaned her head back as far as she could go without falling over. Lightning's eyebrow ever so slightly raised a tad at the childish display.

"You've got something."

Vanille blinked for a moment, before it clicked and her eyes darted to the bobbers.

All four were under.

"Oh!" She cried, and yanked as hard as she could.

Well, she hooked something.

Something big.

The reels spun the wrong way, and as they hit the end of their tether, whatever the girl had hooked tested her strength. It pulled her so hard that she literally flew, until she roughly smacked back down into the water. Snow and Hope were up in a second, but Lightning was faster.

She was already in the water, feeling it's cold sting all over her as she discovered the river dropped off rather suddenly. She cursed, not seeing the redhead above water only meant the girl has somehow failed to let go of the rod and was under.

Or, the girl was the equivalent of a stone in water and had sunk.

Neither were good. Not if Fang found out. Lightning dove under, eyes burning briefly as she opened them and scanned the sun spotted, slightly illuminated depths of the waterscape.

_What would Fang do? "Hey, where's Vanille?"_

"_Oh, she hooked a giant…" What fish are there out here? "Giant… Trout, yes. A giant rainbow trout and it dragged her under. Oh, and she drowned. That a problem?"_

Somehow, Lightning doubted there was a graceful way of telling Fang that they let her best friend die. Not exactly in the most pleasant of methods either, for all Lightning knew that supposed giant trout had turned around and gobbled her up.

Except there was a hope for them yet. Vanille was a little deeper down, floating limply.

_Shit._

No hope then, but at least they'd have something to bring back.

Lightning hurried, feeling her own lungs begin to burn as they began to require oxygen. By the time she grabbed the girl and headed towards the surface, the burning had almost become unbearable.

The soldier broke the surface hard, gasping desperately for air before she forced Vanille up, struggling to keep her face above water. Choking, the woman suddenly realized that jumping in to save the girl had inadvertly exposed both of them to the powerful current.

They were nowhere near the fishing spot, and even further from camp.

"Eden-" Lightning gagged, sputtering water as she guided them both towards the shore. "Be damned. I-" Another harsh cough, but land was close. "Told you… Fishing was a.. Bad idea."

Her feet touched the riverbed and Lightning found herself standing, she had picked Vanille up, cradling the girl in her arms as she waded out of the shallow end and collapsed onto the grass. The redhead rolled away from her, lifeless. Lightning gritted her teeth, hurrying over to her side and rolling her onto her back.

"Vanille?" She questioned loudly, stomping her hands next to the girl's head. "Vanille?" Gently she pressed on the back of the girl's neck, making her head lean back and mouth open just a smidge.

_Of course she's drowned… _The sergeant glowered, opening the girl's mouth more. _Why would my luck suddenly change for the better?_

Gently plugging the girl's nose, Lightning bent down and clamped her mouth over Vanille's. She forced air out and into the girl's lungs, watching as her chest inflated.

True to her name, Lightning pulled away wicked fast as Vanille sputtered, water being forced out of her. She gasped, eyes opening as she sat up, trying to recover from what just happened.

* * *

Vanille was horribly confused. She remembered hitting the water and being pulled under, and then nothing. The world had gone fuzzy and then dark. She could distantly recalling something or someone grabbing her, but then a blank was drawn. Now, she was on land again, and was having one hell of a coughing fit. Her lungs protested to the amount of water the girl had inhaled, making the coughing that much worse with the sensation of horrible burning.

A comforting hand rested on her back and another on her knee. Immediately she thought of Fang, somehow managing to save her again. But as she looked blurry-eyed to her right, she saw the vague semblance of a person with pink hair.

"L-Lightning?" Vanille choked.

"Stop trying to talk." The voice confirmed it; it was stern and disapproving. "Just focus on breathing."

The girl felt incredibly silly, she had tried to get Lightning into the sport of fishing, and instead she had been pulled into the river by what she had hoped would've been their meal. She let out a quiet whimper, something she hoped the sergeant hadn't heard only because Lightning didn't seem to have a lot of patience for babies.

"I'm sorry…" She murmured, glancing up at the woman as her vision returned to normal. Lightning had sat down next to her and her apology only got her a passing glance.

"It's fine." She went back to staring across the river.

"But you were right, it was a bad idea…"

Lightning looked at the ground, face contemplative. "Vanille, did you know you'd hook monster?"

"No…"

"Then it's not your fault. So stop apologizing."

Logical words and though they made the girl feel a bit better, she was now cold, hungry and miserable. She didn't dare speak, but the loud grumble from her stomach broke the silence. Lightning looked at her, eyebrow raised a tad.

"Eh heh…" Vanille brushed a few of her bangs from her face. "I'm hungry…"

"I'll catch dinner." Lightning stood up, unfazed by the fact she was soaking wet. She offered her hand to Vanille, who took it appreciatively. "Start a fire."

* * *

There was no point dragging a drenched and unhappy teen around a dark forest. Vanille, as chipper as she acted, was quieter now. She sat by the fire, occasionally glancing at the sunset sky with a faded smile. She had left the cooking to Lightning, who didn't seem to mind. Fang usually did the cooking; she had plenty of experience from Pulse…

Lightning had never spoken up when other's wanted to cook. It seemed the sergeant wanted to be the last choice. Vanille didn't know why, there was no way she was worse than Snow (not that Vanille had experience eating what the man made). But the sergeant had always been content to hunt the meat, just never prepare it.

_Hunters don't cook? Fang hunts too… Huh.._

"Hey, Light," She caught the woman's attention, she could tell by how the soldier shifted her weight as she tossed more wood onto the fire. "Did you cook before all this?"

Lightning paused her actions for a millisecond, considering the question at a wicked pace.

"As much as I needed to."

"How often was that?"

"Serah liked to cook," The sergeant offered that as an answer.

"Was she good?"

"Good enough."

Vanille frowned, and wrapped her arms around her knees, pressing them to her chest. "You really don't like conversation?"

There was a sigh. "It's… Fine."

"You just… Don't seem that interested in it."

"I'm reserved."

The girl giggled. "I've noticed… What did you like to cook?"

Lightning frowned; she had never much liked to cook anything. She cooked because she and her sister needed to eat, and at that time Serah didn't feel like doing it herself. She wasn't one of the fanatics who enjoyed the art of cooking; she simply did it out of necessity: you need to eat; you cook. It was that simple.

But how to tell Vanille that she had never enjoyed the art. "I never thought about it."

"Never?"

The woman nodded, checking the meat. It was almost ready.

"So… What did you do for fun?"

Lightning was tempted to say nothing; one more little lie in her long history of lying wouldn't hurt. She glanced at Vanille, her hard eyes softening a tad at the curious look the girl was giving her. Some things about her reminded the sergeant of her sister, it was odd and somewhat uncomfortable. Vanille wasn't her sister, but they shared such similarities that the girl could get away with asking her a hundred questions.

"Light?"

Lightning blinked, coming out of her thought. "Hm?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"My sister."

"Serah?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because…" She trailed off uncomfortably; she was apprehensive about talking about Serah. They had only mentioned her as a motivation for the group to keep going, nothing more. Only Snow knew more and that was because the man was engaged to her.

"_Worst birthday ever."_

Lightning inwardly winced at the memory of not believing her sister and making her run off.

"_If you're a l'Cie, it's my job to deal with you."_

For a soldier, she was certainly blind.

"Because?" Vanille had inched closer; head tilted and eyes sparkling with interest. Lightning frowned and pushed the girl a bit back with her finger on the girl's forehead.

"You remind me of her, a little." Secretly amused as the girl bounced back on her bum.

The girl smiled shyly, not sure how to take it. She pushed passed the awkwardness, glancing at the meat near the fire. "Is the food ready?"

Lightning looked at it, taking out her knife Hope had returned to her. Her eyes lingered on it for a moment, remembering her birthday all over again. But her stare broke away and she cut a small hunk of meat off the larger piece.

"It's ready."

* * *

"Lightning?"

The soldier looked over, blue eyes almost appearing black in the darkness of the forest. The fire provided little light now that it had died down a bit, the soldier estimated it was around midnight and to her knowledge Vanille had been sleeping for a while now. So why was she up?

Stepping through the trees, the sergeant broke back into the camp. Vanille looked up at her, eyes a little wide.

"What's wrong?"

The redhead looked down at the ground before she shuddered.

"I'm cold."

Lightning's face stayed even. "Oh." She threw another log on the fire before she slunk down and leaned against a tree. She gestured to the girl to come closer.

Vanille swiftly scurried over, quickly invading the nook that was created when she lifted up Lightning's arm. She snuggled close; body eagerly gobbling up what heat Lightning's managed to give off. The sergeant blinked; slowly bring her arm down so it was resting on Vanille's shoulder.

_She is cold. _Lightning noted, leaning her head back against the tree. She could just see the stars through the branches, sparkling and shining in the night.

"Stargazing."

Vanille's eyes cracked open, and she looked up at her friend, confused. "Pardon?"

"You asked me what I did for fun." Lightning replied, eyes meeting Vanille's for a second before they traveled back up to the sky. "I stargazed."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I would've thought you did something more exciting, being part of the army."

"I had my fill of excitement from the army." Lightning admitted. "I liked the quiet that midnight offered compared to the hustle and bustle of the day."

"What else did you do?" Vanille questioned, yawning.

"… I also liked swimming."

"Did you save poor fisherwomen then too?"

"No, I would have to say today was my first time doing that particular exercise."

The peppy-girl grinned up at Lightning and giggled. "Do you like fishing then?"

Her eyes narrowed a little thoughtfully. "It's growing on me."

"Good," Vanille snuggled more into Lightning, closing her eyes. "Wouldn't want you to be bored next time we try…"

_Next time?_

"Goodnight, Vanille."

The girl gave a final yawn. "Night…"


End file.
